The Catalog module provides search and filtering tools to quickly locate products and services.

Advanced Filter Fields

The Advanced Filter panel lets you search on any combination of the fields below. Material and Labor pricing fields are grouped into their own sections at the bottom of the panel.

Actions available from the Catalog list view for managing products and services.

Note: The Material, Labor, and Percent pricing-type toggle is part of an individual catalog item, not the list view. It is set in the Selected Record View → Pricing Mode (see that section below).

Column headers display key information about products and services in the list view.

Select one or more products using the row checkboxes to display the batch toolbar above the list.

After selecting products, click Batch Options to access bulk actions for the selected products.

Click the hamburger icon (≡) on any product row to access single-record actions.

Opened from the row hamburger menu. Defines how a product is stocked, sold, and purchased. The Inventory UOM acts as the default; Sell and Purchase UOMs are only required when they differ from the Inventory UOM.

Pricing Mode displays pricing information for the selected catalog item. Products can be configured as Material, Labor, or Percent types, with each type having specific pricing fields. Only one pricing type can be selected at a time.

Pricing Fields (Materials)

These fields appear when the item is configured as a Material type:

Pricing Fields (Labor)

These fields appear when the item is configured as a Labor type:

Pricing Fields (Percent)

These fields appear when the item is configured as a Percent type:

Based On:

Components Mode shows product components for items configured as assemblies. Assemblies allow you to create catalog items made up of multiple sub-items, useful for kits, bundles, or complex products.

Accounting Mode provides accounting-related information for the catalog item, including General Ledger account assignments, cost codes, and configurator settings.

QuickBooks Mode offers QuickBooks integration options for the catalog item, including account mapping and special product designations for down payments, retainage, and credit card fees.

Additional features available for catalog items including product images, file attachments, custom attributes, and inventory tracking indicators.

Configured in Settings → Users / Access.

Only the Description field is required when creating a catalog item. All other fields (ID, SKU, pricing, categories, etc.) are optional, providing maximum flexibility for different business workflows.

Why So Few Requirements?

The system is designed for flexibility to accommodate diverse business models and workflows:

• Quick entry: Add items rapidly without extensive data collection
• Phased implementation: Start with basic info, add details later
• Different use cases: Some items need full details, others just need description
• Workflow variation: Different industries have different catalog requirements

Recommended Fields (Though Optional)

While not required, these fields are highly recommended for most businesses:

• ID: Internal product identifier for organization and searching
• Category: Hierarchical categorization for filtering
• Unit of Measure (UOM): Defaults to "each" if not specified
• Pricing: At least one price or pricing code for quoting
• GL Accounts: For TRUE Accounting integration and financial reporting

Common Workflow

1. Create catalog item with description (minimum requirement)
2. Add ID and category for organization
3. Set up pricing (codes or direct pricing)
4. Configure inventory settings if tracking stock
5. Add GL accounts for accounting integration

Yes, catalog items have description override capability. When you add a catalog item to a job, you can customize the description for that specific job without changing the master catalog description.

How Description Override Works

1. Add catalog item to quote or job
2. Item appears with default catalog description
3. Edit the description field for that specific line item
4. Custom description appears on this job only
5. Master catalog description remains unchanged

Common Use Cases

• Customer-specific language: Adjust terminology to match customer's expectations
• Project-specific details: Add location, room, or installation notes
• Proposal customization: Make descriptions more or less technical for different audiences
• Specification variations: Note custom sizes or modifications
• Bundled items: Describe how items work together in this specific project

Example

Important Notes

• No catalog impact: Changes only affect the specific job item
• Future jobs unaffected: Next time you use this catalog item, it shows original description
• Per-line customization: Each job line item can have unique description
• Appears in proposals: Custom descriptions show on customer-facing documents

Each catalog item can have a default inventory location assigned, which determines where received stock is stored and where the system looks first when reserving or depleting inventory.

Setting the Default Location

1. Open the catalog item record
2. Navigate to the inventory or stock settings section
3. Select the desired location from the Location dropdown
4. Save the record

How the Default Location Is Used

• Receiving: When items arrive via purchase order, the default location pre-fills as the receiving destination
• Reservations: The system checks the default location first when reserving inventory for a job
• Stock reporting: Inventory counts and valuation reports group items by their assigned location
• Reorder alerts: Minimum stock thresholds are evaluated against the quantity at the assigned location

Best Practices

• Match physical storage: Set the location to where the item is physically stored in your warehouse or yard
• Use consistent naming: Locations should match the names configured in the Locations module
• Review periodically: If you reorganize warehouse layout, update catalog item locations to match
• Override when needed: You can change the location during receiving if a shipment goes to a different spot than usual

TRUE supports up to two levels of assembly nesting. You can add a product that has components to another assembly, but the system will not automatically pull in that nested product's components or roll up its pricing into the parent assembly.

Why Is There a Nesting Limit?

This is intentional. Each additional level of nesting requires the system to recursively resolve components and recalculate pricing across related records. Maintaining the relationships between products once they are added to a Quote or Job adds further complexity. By keeping assemblies to a defined depth, pricing calculations and system performance stay fast and predictable.

What to Do Instead

If you need all components visible on the parent assembly, add them directly rather than relying on nested sub-assemblies. This ensures pricing rolls up correctly and all components appear on quotes and material lists.

Pricing codes enable sophisticated tiered pricing strategies, allowing you to set multiple price points for the same catalog item and automatically apply the correct price based on customer type or project category.

What Are Pricing Codes?

Pricing codes are named price tiers that let you define multiple prices per catalog item. Common examples:

• AAA/Premiere/Platinum: Premium customer pricing
• Contractor: Trade professional pricing
• Wholesale: Volume discount pricing
• Retail: Standard consumer pricing
• Government/Non-Profit: Special discount categories

How to Set Up Pricing Codes

Step 1: Configure Pricing Codes (One-Time Setup)

1. Navigate to Settings or Configuration
2. Create pricing code names (e.g., "Contractor", "Wholesale")
3. Set up markup or margin percentages for each code

Step 2: Apply Pricing Codes to Catalog Items

1. Open catalog item
2. Define price or markup for each pricing code
3. Save - item now has multiple price points

Step 3: Assign Pricing Codes to Clients

1. Navigate to Contacts or Clients module
2. Open client record
3. Select appropriate pricing code (e.g., "Contractor" for trade customers)
4. Save client record

Automatic Price Application

Once configured, pricing works automatically:

1. Create quote for a client
2. System checks client's assigned pricing code
3. Add catalog items to quote
4. Prices automatically populate based on client's pricing code
5. No manual price lookup needed

Example Scenario

Markup vs. Margin Distinction

Advanced: Client-Specific Pricing

Beyond pricing codes, you can set client-specific prices:

• Override catalog pricing for specific client relationships
• Useful for long-term contracts or special agreements
• Priority: Client-specific pricing overrides pricing code pricing

Always archive, never delete. Archiving preserves historical data integrity while removing items from standard views. Deleting catalog items can break historical records and create reporting errors.

When to Archive

• Vendor discontinuation: Manufacturer no longer produces the item
• Catalog refinement: Moving from generic to specific items (e.g., "glass" → "tempered glass" + "annealed glass")
• Configuration changes: No longer offering that particular specification
• Business model shift: Exiting a product category
• Seasonal items: Products only relevant during certain times
• Duplicate cleanup: Consolidating similar items

Benefits of Archiving

• Historical accuracy: Past jobs and invoices display correct item names
• Reporting integrity: Reports for previous years remain accurate
• Audit trail: Complete transaction history preserved
• Clean working catalog: Archived items removed from standard searches
• Reversible: Can un-archive if item returns to active use

How to Archive

1. Navigate to Catalog module
2. Locate item to archive
3. Open catalog item record
4. Click Archive action
5. Item removed from standard views, historical data preserved

Accessing Archived Items

1. Navigate to Catalog module
2. Select Archive search filter
3. View all archived items (still searchable and viewable)

Example Scenario: Refining Catalog

The correct workflow is: un-receive the item, adjust the cost on the PO line, then re-receive at the corrected cost.

This preserves financial accounting integrity. Directly editing the inventory cost is not supported — the WAC calculation requires the source transaction to be the truth.

Use the Manual Sell or Shrinkage features in Inventory to remove the item at zero impact, then add it to Products/Services (Catalog) as a fresh record.

Do not edit the inventory record's product association directly, as this can cause Weighted Average Cost and reporting discrepancies.

GL (General Ledger) account mapping for catalog items follows a hierarchy that allows flexible financial reporting while maintaining default settings. This feature is primarily for TRUE Accounting users, with limited QuickBooks integration.

GL Account Hierarchy (Priority Order)

The system applies GL accounts in this order, with higher priority overriding lower:

1. Catalog item override (highest priority) - Specific GL account assigned to this item
2. Default settings - Company-wide default GL accounts
3. Class-based codes (lowest priority) - GL accounts based on job class or division

GL Account Types for Catalog Items

When using TRUE Accounting, configure these accounts:

• Revenue Account: Where sales revenue is recorded
• COGS Account: Cost of Goods Sold when item is sold
• Bill Account: Where vendor bills are recorded
• Inventory Account: Asset account for inventory value

When to Use Catalog-Level Overrides

• Special revenue categories: Items requiring different income account tracking
• Unique COGS treatment: Materials with special expense categorization
• Department-specific items: Products tied to specific P&L centers
• Tax treatment differences: Items with special tax or accounting requirements

QuickBooks Integration Limitation

TRUE Accounting vs. QuickBooks

TRUE Accounting:

• Full inventory movement journal entries
• Automatic GL postings for reserves, depletions, transfers
• Complete COGS tracking with WHAC
• Inventory asset account updates in real-time

QuickBooks Integration:

• Invoices sync with revenue accounts
• Bills sync with expense accounts
• Inventory movements NOT synced
• Best for businesses not tracking detailed inventory in QB

Cost Code Overrides

Related to GL accounts, catalog items can also have:

• Cost code overrides: Job costing category assignments
• Default cost codes: Automatic categorization for job tracking

Pricing codes and client-specific pricing are two complementary systems. Pricing codes create standard price tiers for groups of customers, while client-specific pricing overrides those tiers for individual customer relationships.

Pricing Codes (Group-Based Pricing)

• Purpose: Standard price tiers for customer segments
• Scope: Applied to multiple customers in same category
• Examples: Retail, Contractor, Wholesale, Government
• Setup: Configured once, applied to many customers
• Use Case: Volume discounts, trade pricing, customer type discounts

Client-Specific Pricing (Individual Pricing)

• Purpose: Unique pricing for specific customer relationships
• Scope: Applied to one customer only
• Examples: Long-term contracts, negotiated rates, VIP customers
• Setup: Configured per customer-item combination
• Use Case: Contract pricing, special agreements, relationship-based discounts

Priority Order

When creating quotes, the system applies pricing in this order:

1. Client-specific pricing (highest priority) - If exists for this customer + item
2. Pricing code - Based on customer's assigned pricing code
3. Default catalog price (lowest priority) - Standard price from catalog

Example Scenario

When to Use Each Approach

Use Pricing Codes When:

• Creating standard price tiers for customer segments
• Setting up volume discounts for all contractors
• Implementing retail vs. wholesale pricing
• Applying consistent pricing across customer types

Use Client-Specific Pricing When:

• Negotiating long-term contract rates
• Providing special pricing for VIP customers
• Honoring unique pricing agreements
• Overriding standard pricing for strategic relationships

TRUE supports bulk importing catalog items using CSV files. Excel files (.xlsx) are not directly supported - you must use the CSV template provided by the system.

1. Navigate to Settings → Catalog
2. Click the Gear icon (⚙️)
3. Select CSV Template to download the required format
4. Open the template and add your product data, ensuring column headers remain unchanged
5. Save your file as CSV format (not Excel .xlsx)
6. Return to the Catalog module
7. Click the Gear icon (⚙️) and select Import Records
8. Upload your completed CSV file and review the import results

The Catalog supports printing labels for one product at a time (via the row hamburger) or for many products at once (via batch select).

Single product:

1. Click the Hamburger icon (≡) on the product row
2. Select Product Label (SKU barcode or QR code) or Pricing Label (SKU barcode only)

Multiple products:

1. Use checkboxes to select products in the list view
2. Click Print Label(s) on the batch toolbar that appears above the list

For supported printers and Avery sheet sizes, see the Supported Label Printers article.

Both are printed from the row hamburger menu of a Catalog product, but they serve different purposes.

• Product Label — generates a scannable label for the product itself. You choose either a SKU barcode or a QR code. Used to tag inventory, shelves, or shipping cartons
• Pricing Label — generates the smaller SKU barcode label intended for shelf pricing or retail display. Always uses the SKU format; QR is not an option for pricing labels

Use the Copy UOM / Paste UOM workflow to apply the same Unit of Measure configuration to many products at once.

1. Click the Hamburger icon on the product whose UOM you want to copy
2. Select Unit of Measure (UOM) to open the popover
3. Click Copy UOM
4. Use checkboxes to select the products that should receive the copied UOM
5. Click Batch Options on the batch toolbar
6. Select Paste UOM

The copied configuration covers Inventory UOM, Sell UOM, Purchase UOM, and the conversion ratios between them.

The Catalog batch toolbar allows you to assign the same GL account to many products in one operation, primarily for QuickBooks integration.

1. Use checkboxes to select the products that need the same GL account
2. Click Batch Options on the batch toolbar
3. Select Inventory Account, COGS Account, or Revenue Account
4. Choose the GL account to apply to all selected products

Each account type is assigned in a separate batch action — to set all three on the same products, repeat the workflow once per account type.

Top Sellers Report is a cross-TRUE report that ranks products by sales activity. When run from the Catalog batch toolbar, it is scoped to the products you selected.

1. Use checkboxes to select the products to include
2. Click Batch Options on the batch toolbar
3. Select Top Sellers Report

Use this to identify the highest-volume products in a category, vendor list, or filtered subset of your catalog.

Access to the Catalog module is controlled by user permissions. If you cannot see or access this module:

1. Contact your system administrator
2. Request the Module Access (Catalog) permission (ID #356)
3. Once granted, you'll find the module in Workflows → Procurement → Catalog

Creating new catalog items requires a specific security permission in addition to module access. If you can view the Catalog but cannot add new items:

1. Contact your system administrator
2. Request the New Products / Services permission (ID #541)
3. This permission is found in the Catalog section of user access settings

Why This Matters:

• Catalog items affect pricing across quotes, jobs, and contracts
• Limiting creation permissions helps maintain data quality
• Prevents duplicate or incorrect items from entering the system

Deleting catalog items requires a specific security permission. This permission is typically restricted because deleting items can affect historical records.

1. Contact your system administrator
2. Request the Delete Products / Services permission (ID #743)
3. This permission is found in the Catalog section of user access settings

Alternative to Deletion:

• Disable the item: Mark as inactive instead of deleting to preserve history
• Archive: Move to an archive category for discontinued items
• Inactive items won't appear in searches but remain for reporting

The following is a complete reference of all permissions that control access and actions within the Catalog module. Administrators manage these in Settings > Users / Access > select user > Access tab.

Module Access

Security Permissions